Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Several weeks ago, I featured the work of an artist friend of mine in a post. Here is my promised update on her finished project and a little preview on another beautiful project she's working on for her bookmaking, taught by Collin's Associate Director, Yara Cluver. I recently found out that most of these Collins courses are open to any student on campus, not just those that live here in Collins. With sign-up dates for next semester looming, I wanted give you all a sneak peak of some of the fascinating courses that my LLC will be offering in Fall 2011, in case you're interested! (That list can be found here: http://www.indiana.edu/~llc/forms/SeminarsFall11.pdf.)

The completed book.

Feel like studying mummies and zombies? Want to understand what the heck is going on in North Korea? In the mood to get interdisciplinary? Or, maybe you're interested in learning from famous academic Doug Hofstadter? Collins courses often sound off-the-wall, but for me they have proven to be some of my most rewarding courses yet! Because professors must apply to teach them and these courses go through a lengthy application process—one that is led by students, by the way—teachers are passionate about the material, and courses reflect specific student interests. One of this spring's Collins classes, for example, focuses on the mythology of this cult classic, Star Trek. Students got to attend a comic convention in the course of the class—for which students had to pay a very small amount because most of the cost was covered by the LLC. Even if you don't feel like discussing the farthest reaches of the galaxy, though, you might enjoy taking one of the somewhat more traditional classes that Collins offers—such as Cluver's artist book class.

The intention of this project was to push the boundaries
of what constitutes a book. These small birdcages will
be assembled into something resembling a mobile.

Another of four birdcages.

I'll post a quick update on the completed version of this project, when it is finished!